[00:01] some big changes to the Venture X card in terms of its airport lounge access of bloggers and YouTubers talking about this over the past few days with all this negative stuff going on. But it might not be all bad news, and there are
[00:13] So, I figured I would share my thoughts and opinions here in this video. And unscripted and kind of natural sort of conversational way. I want to make more good to you, make sure to stick around and go ahead and subscribe down below.
[00:27] So, right here is going to be the email that Capital 1 sent out to Venture X card holders. And it says, "Capitalap 1 is dedicated to delivering a best-in-class airport lounge experience for our Venture X customers. As our
[00:39] customers have increasingly encountered weight times in order to enter them. And I've experienced this myself. So, my wife is going to be the primary account two-player setup. And then I'm just an additional card holder. But uh last time
[00:52] we went to a Venture X or Capital 1 lounge with our Venture X uh was out in Denver last year where we both were able to go. We were able to bring in my because there's also a bunch of guest privileges that you get right now.
[01:04] we'll get to that later on. And we had to wait like 5 minutes or so and then we wasn't that long of a wait, but I know some people have experienced much longer waits. And when you're paying $395 per year for the Venture X, obviously you
[01:17] in line for one of the main features of having that credit card in the first place. Now, back over to the email. It says, "In order to address this, we are additional card holders, including authorized users and account managers
[01:30] card holder, you will continue to receive complimentary access to Capital 1 lounges, Capital 1 landings, and Priority Pass lounges." So, as the here, there's no changes that affect her directly, but it is going to affect me
[01:44] below that here, you can actually see some of these changes where it says additional card holder access changes. So, beginning February 1st, 2026, so that's pretty far out into the future, uh, additional card holders on Venture X
[01:57] airport lounge access. So, that's the one big thing that's changing. It's the main reason why she added me as an additional card holder. Uh because for no annual fee, I could be added as an authorized user and get the same airport
[02:10] lounge access that the primary account holder has. That's the way it's been. here. So I'm not going to have automatic airport lounge access anymore as an additional card holder. Primary card holders can pay an additional lounge
[02:23] access fee of $125 per additional card holder to maintain their lounge access. to grant additional card holders access to Capital One lounges, Capital Capital One Landings, and Priority Pass lounges. So instead of um you know having no
[02:37] annual fee for the additional card holder, you could pay an optional $125 that gets you the same lounge access that uh additional card holders had lounge access, the good news is you can still keep or add additional card
[02:50] holders without lounge access for no fee. So, even as an additional card going to take advantage of this just because we don't visit Capital 1 lounges that often. We're not going to pay $125 per year on top of our 395 annual fee on
[03:04] the Venture X. Uh but we'll still just have my my Venture X additional card as an additional account as an authorized user for no annual fee and no lounge per dollar and everything. And then it also says here, if you wish to add
[03:17] holders, you'll have the option to do that beginning February 1st, 2026. So again, I'm filming this video here uh at the beginning of June in 2025. So uh pass before these changes go into effect. So I do still have lounge access
[03:33] potentially upgrade to that lounge access uh ability on February 1st of changes, there's a couple of things to note here below that for both Priority
[03:45] So, let's talk about Capital One first. Beginning February 1st, 2026, guest of Venture X card holders will no longer automatically receive complimentary landings. So, what that's saying is that with my additional card aside, let's say
[04:01] the primary account holder. Even if I did not have my additional card, uh she additional uh guest when visiting the lounge. So, she gets automatic lounge guest because you can bring up to two free guests with the way that it works
[04:16] right now. But once these changes go into effect, the free guest access that goes away as well for her as the primary account holder. And they say over here in the email, primary account holders and additional card holders that are
[04:28] eligible can spend at least $75,000 across the Venture X account per calendar year. And then you can bring up to two free guests to kind of reunlock that feature. So now there is going to be a spend component that's required to
[04:40] unlock the two free guest visits when you're traveling with a primary Venture X card holder. Uh that $75,000 limit uh or or minimum spend amount to unlock it for us. It's not going to be worth it for many people out there. Uh but maybe
[04:54] depending on what their level of spend is. But for most people, this is going to be this roadblock that now prevents guests from accessing the Capital 1 lounges. They do say below this though that primary venture venture X card
[05:07] holders, again, if you're paying that $125 as an additional card holder, you can continue to receive a discounted pricing of $45 per guest per visit. uh and now receive a discounted rate of $25 per
[05:23] visit for guests 17 and under. So that $45 rate that's kind of notable for us here where if I was traveling with my wife and we wanted to visit a Capital 1 maybe once per year, we could visit the lounge and then just opt to pay $45. Uh,
[05:38] and if you kind of run the numbers here, if you visit the Capital One Lounge or you're going to visit Capital One Lounges three or more times per year, then it's going to be worth it to lock in and just pay $125 for the unlimited
[05:50] just going to bring me as a guest maybe once or twice per year, and we want to pay that $45 fee per visit, we could do that. You kind of raise the question though, is that even worth paying $45 for? To me, not really. I'd rather just
[06:03] go sit by the gate or try to visit some other lounge instead. Now, in terms of priority pass for guest lounge access, it says here, "Beginning February 1st, 2026, guests of Venture X card holders will no longer receive complimentary
[06:16] access to Priority Pass lounges. At that time, Venture X primary card holders and eligible can bring guests to Priority Pass lounges at a rate of $35 each per on Capital 1's website. So, I want to jump over there next to kind of show you
[06:31] some of these differences of before and after these changes. So again over here they explain these changes. So for priority pass before any of these changes go into effect complimentary access to priority pass for both the
[06:44] primary and additional card holders along with complimentary guest access. And now after these changes only the primary account holder is going to get an additional card holder you have to pay $125 for that lounge access fee to
[06:59] lounges in additional in addition to the Capital 1 lounges. And then if you want to bring any guests, you could pay a rate of $35 per guest per visit to bring them into the priority pass lounges. So this is obviously a huge disappointment
[07:13] been traveling with multiple people, not just to Capital 1 lounges, but maybe for where Priority Pass lounges are pretty good. You know, you can get some decent uh free guest access through just having this Venture X card uh and and you know,
[07:28] or a few additional card holders because there's no annual fee to do that. So, a of guests into not only Capital 1 lounges, but also Priority Pass lounges. So, definitely go ahead and check out this this full page we'll link to down
[07:42] explains these changes because it definitely is going to be a significant people who are using this card. So, I want to go over exactly who's going to losers with these changes and why it's bad, but also not so bad. So, in terms
[07:56] of winners after these changes go into effect, I'm going to say that solo winners here because you probably don't care about having additional card holders or, you know, bringing guests in or having additional priority pass
[08:08] that. But if you're just traveling on your own with the Venture X card, you in these long lines for the Capital 1 lounges, especially if you're somebody where these lounges currently exist. You know, if you fly out of DFW a lot,
[08:21] Washington Dallas, uh, Denver, any of those airports, chances are there's a have been really getting frustrated with the wait times to get into those lounges hopefully get a little bit better as time goes on. In terms of losers after
[08:35] these Venture X changes, that's going to be mostly couples and families who have these different ways to get lounge access benefits for no additional cost by just having one primary Venture X card holder. So, I know some people
[08:48] add their parents as additional card holders. They have Priority Pass access for no extra cost. That now goes away and you have to pay $125 per year to that priority pass access. A lot of people will also travel with friends and
[09:03] know, have multiple additional card holders and then each is able to bring some guests into Priority Pass lounges or Capital One lounges. And Capital One right now and trying to eliminate overcrowding, which is a big problem in
[09:17] they're cutting back on that by adding all these financial roadblocks in terms of the fees and things like that. for me and my own setup with my wife. Like I've been saying, she's the primary account holder on the additional card. So, I had
[09:30] and that now goes away and I'm not going to be paying $125 per year or $45 per visit. I'd rather just go wait at the gate or try to find another airport overall, my thoughts and opinions with these changes to the Venture X and the
[09:46] overall direction that this card is heading is going to be this. Basically, it doesn't affect me too much personally given that I only visit Capital 1 lounges maybe once per year if that. So, it's not too big of a personal change
[09:59] for me. I'm actually glad they decided to just not add an annual fee to the they just said, "Hey, if you want airport lounge access, cool. Pay us 125 bucks and then you're good to go there." Or pay us uh you know on a per lounge
[10:12] large family or somebody who's kind of working the system with with many family members, additional card holders or or traveling in a big group with guest impact you and you're not going to be too happy about it. But I will say that
[10:26] probably predicted was going to happen at some point just because the airport lounge access was so overpowered for so long since the card launched back in there's there's some workarounds here that I'm sure are eventually going to
[10:39] this long to eventually actually go ahead and devalue this airport lounge to see they did not increase the annual fee here because $3.95 for an annual fee with the 10,000 mi anniversary bonus worth 100 bucks at a minimum plus the
[10:54] $300 travel credit that essentially completely offsets that annual fee and then allows all the other features and multipliers, 2x miles per dollar and everything, 10x on hotels and car rentals or 5x on flights through Capital
[11:06] access and a bunch of other good stuff. all those other benefits are essentially pure value profit after you wipe out that annual fee with those two benefits travel credit you get every year on this card. So, that's nice to see that it's
[11:20] still an easy card to justify. But, I will say I wish Capital 1 was a little bit more easygoing in their underwriting approval process because I've been great credit score. I've never been denied for any other card, but they just
[11:33] credit card accounts. And that's the message that a lot of other people get card as well. So, more than anything, I think these changes here are going to address the overcrowding issue, which people are happy about. People will get
[11:46] this workaround. And sure, it is a devaluation, but it's not nearly as much annual fee increase or something like that. So, I'm not too mad about these should be. These changes were going to come at some point and we'll see where
[12:00] with this card. So, my personal plan is just going to be to have my wife continue to be an additional card holder with no lounge access, but I can still earn 2x miles per dollar on everything. Maybe at some point Capital 1 will
[12:13] eventually approve me for the Venture X. Uh, I'll try to be patient. Maybe at processes. I mean, they're merging with Discover, so maybe that'll change their underwriting in some way. Who knows? We'll see. But let me know your thoughts
[12:25] think about these changes. Are you mad? Are you happy there's going to be no more overcrowding? Uh, let me know in the comment section down below.